[Game Preview] Vigor

Vigor has just hit the Xbox Game Preview programme. This basically means that you can play the game now, however, what you’re playing at the moment won’t be represented of the final build and there could be a lot of bugs and glitches within it.

Vigor is an online survival game, where you have to build up your base and go out into the world and find resources and other items to stay alive. The only problem is, you’re not alone, there are other players in the world with you who are trying to do exactly the same, find resources and survive. You could think of it as a battle royal type game, but it isn’t 1v100 and the last person wins, it’s just survival. I’m not entirely sure how many people are in each world/server with you and I’m presuming that this will obviously change each time you load the game and your house will act as the hub/safehouse.

The reason I say this is because in my first few hours with the game, I have only seen a handful of people, in which I have died every time. I have to admit as well that this might have been expected when the game has just released into game preview and I think as the game gets closer to full release and more things are ironed out, I think the servers will become a little fuller.

First impressions of the game when loading it up and coming out of the tunnel that you’re in, is that the game looks stunning. The views and vistas that you can see are wonderful, vast rolling hill and mountainsides as far as the eye can see.

When you start you will go through a small basic tutorial to teach you the buttons and everything else, pretty standard these days and what’s on offer here is short and sweet and to the point. The tutorial area that you come out in is for you to get comfortable with the game and enjoy at your leisure. The game advised to have a walk around and get used to it, and that there might even be a few bits for you to loot.

In the tutorial area you can wander around and look at the area, there isn’t much here other than an abandoned campsite which gives you some weaponry. After finding this I went straight to the marker to get myself set up. I will say that once you start the game, that’s it, the game lets go of your hand and you’re on your own. Once loaded into the world, I wandered aimlessly around the house I had been given and wondered what to do, I then noticed a shooting gallery outside which I decided to venture to.
Practice some shooting? Why not, haven’t been able to shoot my gun yet so might as see how it handles.

The sound of the guns was amazing, I didn’t even have my speakers up loud and the sound made my cat fly into the air, it was a joy to behold! The sound, not my cat flying into the air, although that is quite funny. I tried all the different guns and the same, the sounds for me are spot on, I loved the echo that they made across the valley as I shot. There was one thing about them, I tested them against the shooting range that was there, trying to shoot some plates, emphasis on trying, every time I went to shoot and had the dot spot on the middle, there was nothing, absolutely nothing. So, I thought that there could be bullet drop, so I raised the gun a bit above the plate, and nothing, dropped it slightly so it was in line with the top of the plate and still nothing. Getting slightly frustrated now, I aimed slightly to the right of the plate… SMASH… what the?! It seems that the shooting mechanics may take their lessons from the Simpsons where Bart goes to intentionally miss shooting the bird but doesn’t compensate for the crooked sight and ends up getting it anyway. This is what this felt like.

When you’re ready for the big boy stuff, there is a map within your house which you can check and this will give you all the different areas which you can choose to visit, it will also let you know when a storm is approaching, which I think it says is like a radioactive storm, and when this approaches, find shelter or head back to the safety of your house.

Your house is like your little safe area, it’s somewhere for you to retreat from the game, which is good, especially if you manage to get hold of a supply drop, but even then, getting it back to your house is a task in itself. Mainly due to the fact that you’re lit up like a Christmas tree on the map and everyone knows where you are. The only advice I can give for this is that when you have a drop. Pick the exit point and just go.

With my first adventure, I can see what the game is trying to do, and also what it’s going to need to succeed, and this is players, of which there aren’t many about, but I have to admit that I am excited to see how this game develops and if they’re any additions to it in the future.

It is only in preview at the moment and I am pretty confident that the game will continue to grow through its development and add more and more to entice new players to join.